Students Present Final Designs For Caine College Courtyard

Chris Binder stands with his design at the final presentation. Binder said he tried to maintain elements from the original courtyard design in his proposal.

Credit ELAINE TAYLOR / UTAH PUBLIC RADIO

Construction on the courtyard outside of Utah State University’s Chase Fine Arts Center began earlier this fall, but it wasn’t until Monday that a final design was selected for the space.

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The new design was chosen through a student competition held by the Caine College of the Arts and the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences. After an anonymous first round, judges narrowed the field from 34 to 6 designs.

Monday the judges met to hear presentations from each of the finalists and choose a winner. Before the presentations began, finalists excitedly paced the performance hall in suits, talking about their designs with faculty and friends.

Finalist Nicholas Decker, a student in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, spoke about the basis of his design.

“I think all of us were inspired by the fact that it will be part of the fine arts building, all of us were influenced by the fine arts in one form or another,” Decker said.

Another finalist, Chris Binder, said the inspiration for his design came from the original courtyard architect Garr Campbell.

“He graduated from the program that I’m in, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, in 1967. He went on to be a really prolific designer and so I tried to keep a lot of the same elements that he had in his original design in my design,” Binder said.

USU officials say the winner has been chosen, but it may still be a few days before a public announcement is made.

Once the winner is notified, their design will be implemented through a phased approach with the guidance of a design team. Officials say completion of the project will be dependent on funding.